~ Thoughts on Walking the Path of Christian Discipleship

Not telling the story by telling a story: Pope Benedict and the secular media

I call it “not telling the story by telling a story”. It continues to amaze me how so many (it seems) in the secular media approach and “cover” Church events – especially Papal visits. They just don’t get it and I am more and more convinced that often they just do not want to get it … probably because the real story challenges both the “powers that be” and ingrained perceptions. Sidestep journalism and commentary at its finest. So … my advice to those who really want to learn about events in the Church and the message of the Church to our world today: evaluate your sources. Don’t take reports at face value; do the work needed. You will be better off for it.

Here is a little thought experiment. View the video below. Is it the whole story about the recent papal visit? No. Were there other aspects? Yes. Were there protests? Yes. Are there issues that need to be addressed – and are being addressed – in the life of the Church? Yes, certainly. But view the video below critically – what is happening, what is being said, how many people are there, notice their actions and reactions. Now, consider how generally the papal visit has been covered (if at all) in the media – both print and video. Would you say that what is seen and heard in this clip found expression in the general media coverage? Or does there seem to be a disconnect? And if there is a disconnect, why?

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3 thoughts on “Not telling the story by telling a story: Pope Benedict and the secular media”

The “major” story that I heard from the visit was that the Pope was “Pope admits failures in sex abuse scandal.” It was an AP article and it focused mostly on the more “controversial” things that were said by the Pope. I haven't gotten much other news down here, and watched most of the visit on EWTN's live internet feed.Most of what I have seen from the few media sources that I read from was focused on scandal. I don't know if that is because it makes the news more exciting, or if it is because they just don't want to cover it.One of my favorite moments of experience with this subject was immediately after my conversion. Benedict XVI said “this and that…”I was approached by two family members: one said that he disagreed with the Pope saying that all religions would get you to heaven, the other disagreed with the Pope because he said that Catholicism is the only way to heaven.Both of these people listened to separate press releases of the same speech.It is very hard to find honest journalism anymore, but especially with things are said by the Pope. His message gets skewed to the left or right very often. You will almost never find a direct quote from him in-context… and that is from Catholic sources. His message is usually lost when it gets “paraphrased.”

I also have had this problem recently. I am doing a research study on whether or not celibacy forces a person to commit acts of perversion vs a person in a sexual relationship. When I have people come up to me and ask does your priest molest you or it was on the news and it said all priests are like that. It really makes me angry and upset because people believe the stereotypes that are put on the news. The news definitely blows certain topics out of proportion and coverage of the Catholic faith is one. I watched another article about when the Pope visited the United Kingdom. All it talked about was how many protesters were there and how outdated the Church is. It did not mention his message, it did not mention the reason as to why he was going, all the news coverage did was blast the Pope. I have asked my Protestant friends about the scandals and remind them there are just as many scandals in other churches/religions, not just the Catholic faith. I ask them why is there so much negative coverage or just coverage of the Catholic Church and not of the other bad people. Their response? The world holds you, the Catholic Church, to a higher standard.

Excellent observations. It's astounding to me how completely different various reports of the same event can be. In my experience, the secular media *never* covers the full story. They focus entirely on the “scandalous” bits or the elements that can incite a strong reaction. They don't seem to think that the underlying message (which is that of faith) is important or “relevant”. How ironic that a religious story is given almost no religious context!I have to say, also, that I've noticed that the general public has very little knowledge of even the basics of Catholicism. It seems that everyone *thinks* he/she knows what it's all about, so why bother doing any background research on the subject? This becomes painfully obvious when one is studying Western History. It is absolutely impossible to have a true grasp of it if one does not have a general understanding of the Catholic Faith. This means it's incredibly difficult to explain classic literature or traditional European culture to a person not already well-versed in these areas. –And who is these days? I think the problem raised by this post is quite a complex one but one of fundamental importance, not only to fair reporting but even to our basic self-understanding.